Nick Gonzales drives in winning run in 8th inning as Pirates edge Cardinals

The Pittsburgh Pirates have come to expect that when Nick Gonzales comes to the plate in late-game situations, the rookie second baseman does so with a slow heartbeat and a knack for game-winning hits.

Gonzales singled to score Bryan Reynolds in the bottom of the eighth inning for his eighth career game-winning RBI, as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1, on Monday night before 18,970 at PNC Park.

It was the second time in four days that Gonzales came through in the clutch, as he delivered a ninth-inning single for an 8-7 walk-off win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

“I think my heartbeat is going pretty good in those moments,” Gonzales said. “I try to slow it down, but I think that just kind of gets me a little more locked in. I definitely try to slow it down and not try to do too much.”

Riding the momentum of a series win against the Phillies, who boast the best record in baseball, the Pirates (51-49) wanted to cut into the two-game lead of an NL Central rival. They now trail the Cardinals (52-48) by one game in both the division and wild-card standings.

“Huge team win, especially against the Cardinals,” Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller said. “Every win’s great but especially against a division rival — these are games we need to win.”

Rather than start Keller in their weekend series against the Phillies, the Pirates saved their staff anchor for the Cardinals by giving him seven days off between starts. After lasting only three innings in a 9-4 win over the Chicago Cubs in his previous start July 14, Keller delivered his team-best 11th quality start.

The right-hander responded by holding the Cardinals to one run, coming on Nolan Gorman’s solo homer in the fifth, while giving up six hits and two walks with three strikeouts on 97 pitches (62 strikes) in seven innings.

“It’s very important,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “There were times he didn’t have his best stuff. I just think it shows that he has multiple weapons to be able to get people out. He made one bad pitch, and the ball hit the foul pole but overall an outstanding outing for him.”

The score was tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Bryan Reynolds hit a leadoff single past diving shortstop Masyn Winn. Reynolds advanced to second on lefty John King’s wild pitch and scored when Gonzales hit a sinker off the end of his bat through the right side.

“He’s just a gamer, man. He loves baseball and he’s really good at it, too,” Keller said. “He’s playing a hell of a second base and is doing really well at the plate. I don’t want to say we expect it now, but every time he comes up in a big situation, he’s getting the job done, which is a testament to him and his hard work.”

Keller escaped scoring threats twice early. The Cardinals put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out in the second inning, but Keller got a pair of groundouts to escape.

Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez hit a leadoff double to the warning track in right-center in the bottom of the second but also was stranded.

Alec Burleson singled to center with one out in the third but Keller got Willson Contreras looking at a slider for a called third strike and catcher Joey Bart threw out Burleson at second to end the frame.

“Strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out is one of the coolest plays in baseball, I think, because I’m a pitcher, probably,” Keller said. “That’s huge, especially when you can strike out a guy like Contreras and then throw (Burleson) out and get out of the inning. That’s big-time. Outs are precious. You never know what’s going to happen.”

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Andrew McCutchen drilled a double to the left-field corner and scored on Oneil Cruz’s two-out single to left.

Gorman tied it at 1-1 in the fifth when he crushed Keller’s curveball inside 362 feet off the foul pole in right field for a leadoff home run, his 19th of the season.

Pedro Pages followed with a single to right, then advanced to second when Burleson hit a comebacker to the mound that bounced off Keller’s right hand. Keller scooped the ball with his glove and relayed it to Tellez at first for the out, but Shelton and assistant trainer Tony Leo visited the mound to check on him.

“It was kind of a weird play,” Keller said, noting that it was top spun. “I was expecting it to pop up, and it just kind of stayed down. I was just trying to knock it down. It was fine. I threw all my pitches when they came out just to make sure everything was good. Felt really good. Probably will be sore tomorrow, but who cares?”

Keller remained in the game but walked Contreras. When Brendan Donovan hit a sharp grounder down the first-base line, Tellez stretched out to make the stop and throw to Keller to finish off the frame.

“Huge play,” Shelton said. “First and second, two outs, diving play down the line. It’s really important. It’s something that changed the game.”

When the Cardinals turned to right-handed reliever Chris Roycroft in the seventh, Jack Suwinski singled to left then raced to third on Joshua Palacios’ pinch-hit single to right to put runners on the corners. But Bart hit a bouncer to third baseman Nolan Arenado, who was playing on the edge of the grass and threw Suwinski out at home plate, and McCutchen grounded into a forceout at second to end the rally.

Pirates lefty reliever Aroldis Chapman (2-4) earned the win by making quick work of the Cardinals in the eighth, setting the stage for them to take the lead. Tellez followed Gonzales with a single to right to put runners on the corners, but Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Closer David Bednar gave up a two-out single to Paul Goldschmidt in the ninth but struck out Gorman to earn his 18th save.

“It’s a big win for us to start the series,” Shelton said. “The Cardinals play a lot of low-scoring games. They play a lot of close games, (and) so do we. You have to execute. I was proud of the way that we grinded through it because we had some opportunities to break this game open and didn’t capitalize on them. So it’s nice, when you get in a situation and you get that big hit to close it down.”